Ok, so, for those of you who dont know (mainly college/city friends), I am your go-to friend when you post stuff about animals, because I know the ins and outs about the agriculture industry, and Ive raised or been around every single commercial animal throughout the course of my entire life. First of all, I do understand that this video is more about how firms market their product in order for the target audience to be interested in consuming it, but the end makes a big tie in back to the animal industry. So, before I go into this enormous rant, please know that the only animal industry I dont agree with is the poultry industry. So before anyone comments about some bull crap Organic and healthy alternatives like free range chicken, did you know that for a hen to be labeled free range, it only has to be out of its cage for about 30 minutes A DAY? So, honestly, unless you buy your chicken DIRECTLY from a small-scale home farmer, like myself, you will be supporting big agri-business. Now, on to another little fact of this video that pisses me off. Do you know how she shows the picture of the pig farm? And then shows you the bad picture of the sow trapped in this awful metal contraption with its little piglets running around. Its called a farrowing crate, and these people should probably look up what it does. There are specific breeds of pigs, like Durocs and Yorkshires, that are generally very good mothers when they first make the transition from gilt to sow. But, unfortunately, there are different breeds, and exceptions to this rule, that just arent very good first-time moms, and some that are never good mothers. The reality is, the farrowing crate is to protect the piglets from the mother ROLLING ALL AROUND THE PEN AND SMASHING TINY PIGLETS LEFT AND RIGHT. The sow can be quite comfortable in the crate, and the small slots are for the piglets to fit in and suckle when the mom does decide to lay down and be a good mom. Yes, there are obviously instances where little pigs go in there and then mama lays down and youve got a pancake piggy, but the farrowing crate gives piglets more room in the stall to lay down SANS mom, so there is a higher chance that they are safe. Not to mention that in private, smaller farms, we check on the piglets constantly to make sure that nothing happens. I remember waking up every hour or two in the middle of the night waiting on new babies, just so I could not have to go to school the next morning! The piglets are born in the winter, so we would bundle up in our big jackets and coats, grab old rags from the house, and head to the barn. My family and I had to pull pigs ourselves, because new moms have very narrow birthing canals, we would take the rags and wipe off all the new piglets when they were born and clean out their eyes, nose, and mouth, and then check on them every hour to make sure the mom was absolutely finished giving birth, that all the piglets were feeding correctly, and that none of them were getting smashed. Then they grew up and we ate them, because thats the circle of life. So why dont you just go to a farmer you know and ask for a pig and pay for the butcher? Its more expensive. Are you willing to trade some more money just so you can sleep happy at night knowing that your pig was raised and loved before it turned into the bacon on your plate? And now lets talk about antibiotics. Oh. My. Gosh. Antibiotics. So, everyone and their dog thinks that antibiotics are so bad for animals. Let me tell you something. THEYRE NOT, AND WHOEVER THINKS THEY ARE IS IGNORANT AND UNINFORMED. First of all, we use antibiotics on a regular basis. Granted, we arent eaten at the end of a year or so, but we obviously condone them, so they cant be too bad for our body. Secondly, (this is one of my biggest pet peeves), ANIMALS HAVE A WITHDRAWAL PERIOD BETWEEN THE TIME THEY ARE GIVEN THE MEDICINE AND THE TIME THEY CAN BE SLAUGHTERED. Although Im sure there are instances where animals can slip through the cracks, its not the case for the general animal population. Even medicated feeds have withdrawal periods. Honestly, I would rather accidentally eat my chicken with a little side of drug residue, than eat a chicken that was produced organically, and is hiding some disease within its meat, because it was a dormant case with no visible symptoms. And you know, who really cares if we get a little extra antibiotics in our meat? WE ALREADY TAKE THEM EVERY TIME WE GET SICK. So what does it matter if we get some trace amounts in our chicken? People need to stop believing everything PETA and crappy free the animals, organizations say. They didnt go to vet school. They didnt grow up on a farm raising animals for 18 years of their lives. They didnt come from long lines of farmers on both sides of their families. So frankly, who cares what they say? Maybe everyone should source check more often than fact checking, because a lot of these sources facts are crap. And the last part, about how we are marketing agencies biggest tool in selling their own product? That makes complete sense. But it seems like we should be shocked by this because we were all so naive and ignorant that we didnt look into what our meat was going through before we ate it, and we shouldnt be supporting such awful conditions for animals. How do you not know what your food goes through before you eat it? Its obviously dead. Do you think these large corporations (obviously only in it for the profit) are going to take extra special care to kill their animals with some sort of ceremony, and make it gentle and humane? What do they care? But these large corporations ARE making larger efforts to change it. (Like I said earlier, I dont support the poultry industry.) Some beef slaughterhouses have switched to circular runs so that the calves are more calm as theyre walking into the kill chamber. The calves are restrained just so that they cant hurt themselves or any workers, and the captive bolt is used to end their life quickly and painfully. From that point on, although there is a small chance for error (its life), theyre brain dead. I think thats about as easy as they can make it on animals. And remember, just like the marketing companies, the people who want you to boycott these industries are going to take photos and quotes out of context to sell you the picture they want you to see. So before you go off buying organic, or free-range, remember everything I just told you. Theyre just as bad, if not worse than the corporations that youre trying to avoid. So instead of doing that crap, just go find a local family that raises their own livestock, or a small farmer in your area, and buy from them. Support your small-time agriculture, your 4-H and FFA programs, and youll really get what youre wanting when you watch this video.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 23:38:08 +0000
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